I used for the first time (instead of a foam roller or lacrosse ball)


I found my new tool.

Today (well yesterday) I rode a bike that actually moves when you pedal it, played soccer with my youngest on the driveway and had a family BBQ. I think spring might be on the way.

Today I am going to let myself vent here about how a friend of mine went and bought himself one of these. Now he wants to drop serious $$ on a fancy helmet and I'm like UGH why did you buy such a crappy bike? He keeps Facebook messaging me with questions about changing the gear ratio (Him: "The gearing's too steep; I want to get a new crankset" Me: "No, get a new cog, it'll be way cheaper") and stuff and it's really hard for me to bite my tongue about the bike he got. Why he didn't ask my advice for what bike to get in the first place, I have no idea.

But hey, I should stop being a bike snob and let him have his "fixie" fun, I guess.

Great tool. Use it all the time after a long run. Great for recovery but it hurts like hell if you have leg hair and they get caught in the rollers...

Today I realized that running and biking use very different muscles (no ***** Sherlock). Rode 20 hilly miles single speed and my hams were shocked... rough 8 miles running this morning.

In my circle of friends, we refer to this as: The FlexiDild. Everyone loves it.

Finally stood my ground and decided to stop being Mr. Nice Guy when people keep freaking riding on the wrong side of the street. Some ******* decides hes going to ride on the wrong side of the road when there was someone on the right side of the road right in front of him. If you could've seen it, you'd think it was the stupidest thing in the world, when theres someone right next to you on the proper side of the road, i think it'd be best to follow what that guys doing to be safe and not go on the wrong side of the road.

I've been an ******* to bridge salmon before, often play chicken with them but I'm usually pretty nice and just say "wrong side, bro"

I dont even bother anymore, i just take the outside and keep a straight line, half the time they cant even figure out to go on the inside and try to go around me into traffic. Definitely the best idea.

I love seeing the panic in their eyes when they can't figure out what to do.

Yesterday, I raced Rouge Roubaix. 104ish miles on some brutal roads, including about 20 miles of dirt/sand/gravel, all on road bikes. Climbs in the 17% range. 5700 feet of gain. I probably could've handled those climbs if they were paved, but on gravel, forget about it. I (and most of the field) walked several of the steeper ones. I also hit the deck 3 or 4 times when the front wheel got wonky in the gravel.

Anyway, I finished 39th out of 75 in the 4/5 race with a time around 5 hours 45 minutes. Just finishing feels like a hell of an accomplishment. Between all the categories, there were probably 35 DNFs.

Yesterday, I decided I was ready to drop some bank on a road bike.

Today, I bought a road bike.

Last night a friend suggested we have a mustache growing race. So I got rid of my full beard. I went from looking like 5-6 years older than I am to looking like a child. At least its starting to warm up around here, so more and more bike time will be happening

Nice, what did you get?
I am (hopefully) going to pick up a CAAD10 on thursday.

I went to the Cannondale shop and they had nothing...well, if I was buying a mtb they had stuff, but not much for road.

Down the road was a Performance...BoSoxYacht said he knew a guy there quite well so I was going to stop in and see what was up...ended up walking out with a 2012 Fuji Altamira 2.0. Total impulse purchase.

I figure I'll ride the hell out of it for a year and see where I am after that. If I lose another 40lbs, I think I'm allowed to reward myself with another nicer bike.

Altamira is a super nice bike, congrats.

Thanks, I'm still learning bike parts but I enjoyed riding around the parking lot enough to pull the trigger.

I also think that's a solid rule: -40 pounds = new bike reward.

The proper way to buy a bike from Performance is to figure out which mechanic is the stoner one and get him to Pro-deal (or "bro-deal" in this case) you a bike for like 30% of MSRP. Offer a 10% kickback and you'll be set.

Haha, I didn't know about this rule, however, I think they all might have been stoner types (which is fine by me) - they were all quite amused by my superman socks with capes (yes, I walked into a bike shop wearing a tie, leather soled shoes and socks with capes on them - apparently, I fall into the stoner crowd too) when I was trying on the shoes.

Got that right. Putting in long miles on the bike is no easy task, but running is another animal. I'm gonna start doing plyos with this wicked set of stairs at my work, and pick up basketball and weight lifting again. Can't neglect the other body parts.

Of course you can

I started doing a 15 minute body weight routine for the mornings just to get some minimal strength back up in the upper body and core, and to wake up.

Dropped off my Shogun at the LBS to get the brakes wired.

Not a single Performance mechanic that I know will actually do this, because it results in being fired. Just throwing that out there.

Today I realized that cigarettes cost me more monthly than the car payment on my boss's 2011 Subaru. **** that. I'm quitting. Gonna taper down, make this pack last as long as I can, and then either stop altogether or get the patch. I mean, seriously, 4380 per year. That's half of our rent.

Not to mention it like, causes cancer and stuff...

Yeah, but new bikes are more important.